Gripla - 01.01.1975, Page 140

136
GRIPLA
good number of samtíðarsögur must have been written earlier than
other sorts of sagas. These later sagas, if we consider the nature of the
saga itself—a subject I shall not touch here—are more likely to be sub-
mitted to a kind of literary convention which, so to speak, controls
the way the texts were written, but one may presume that this literacy
is not so great or deep in the samtíðarsögur as elsewhere. I mean that
they could be more faithful to reality; also they may well have been
used as models for many íslendingasögur, which then probably re-
fined the devices and techniques used in the former. Finally, it is
more difficult to accuse them of trying to project present situations
into the past, a reproach which may be brought upon many an ís-
lendingasaga, not to speak of fornaldarsögur and the like.
In fact, this paper would like to make an attempt at studying one
important feature of Icelandic medieval society, that is to say, its relig-
ious attitudes such as expressed in the samtíðarsögur and, more pre-
cisely, to raise the problem of the ‘Pagan Revival’ (la Renaissance pa'í-
enne) in XlIIth century Iceland, since many a scholar—for instance F.
Paasche2 — has used this expression. In the XlIIth century, Iceland
has been christianized for more than two centuries. Has the victory of
the Church over old Northern paganism been complete? And in that
case, why and how has this pagan revival been possible, or more ex-
actly, how genuine is this revival?
Before studying the pagan survivals in the samtíðarsögur, however,
two things are necessary: we have first to make certain obvious reserva-
tions about the way a new type of culture and civilization can both rein-
state and eradicate an older one: and then, to define the principles
according to which the study of the phenomenon will be conducted.
1) As for the reservations to be made it should be born in mind
that there are a certain number of immemorial structures (dealing in
general with the fundamental organization of the society, the ‘Weltan-
schauung’ and ethics) which can survive for centuries or more, inde-
pendently of the superficial culture adopted by a country. As Mircea
Eliade points out:
2 F. Paasche: Norges og Islands Litteratur, 2nd ed., 1957, pp. 398 ssqq.